Cinematic Event Enters Seventh Year
The Bushwick Film Festival, now entering its seventh year, collects work from independent filmmakers and brings artists creations to the neighborhood for the four day exhibition from Oct. 2-5.
The annual festival was begun in 2007 by Kweighbaye Kotee, the current CEO and director of programming, with the help of friends she made at New York University. This year film screenings and panel discussions will be held at five venues, local cafes and restaurants, Kotee said.
The festival will exhibit independent feature length films, short pieces and new media projects, submitted by artists from several countries, including Germany, India Japan, Liberia, SouthAfrica and all of the five broughs of New York City, she said.
Submissions have grown a great deal over the years, with 18 percent coming from overseas at this year’s festival, Kotee said.
“They’ve grown 74 percent from last year to this year,” she said.
Of the total, 70 percent are from New York city-based filmmakers, she added. The next largest category of submissions come from New Jersey and Los Angeles, Kotee said.
“Our strongest numbers are in New YorkAnd LA. I’m pretty excited about the submissions.”
Panels on media, film and independent filmmaking will also be held. One seminar will be a discussion led by members of the Tribeca Film Festival, Kotee said, though the final lineup for the festival has not yet been decided.
Honors for the best feature film, documentary, short film and new media project will be given in each category at this years festival.
New media projects are “a new form of storytelling using technology,” Kotee said. “It’s a new way to use technology to tell a story and make it interactive.”
Criteria for submissions are minimal, requiring only that “you have to be independently produced outside of a studio,” Kotee said.
The festival does not insist that artist pieces conform to a general theme. “We use what our filmmakers are talking about and program around that,” she said.
As CEO and director of programming, Kotee decides which feature length film and documentary to present. This year, 10 feature-length films, 15 shorts and 15 new media projects will be screened, Kotee noted.
She has always been inspired by film, but that passion reached a new level when Kotee moved to New York City and grew to an even higher zenith when she came to Bushwick about eight years ago.
Growing up she was mostly exposed to big budget, studio movies but began to learn about independent filmmakers though her passion for the medium.
“I grew up watching films,” Kotee said. “When I moved to New York I got introduced to the independent film world.”
She learned about independent filmmakers and decided to try to create a space for their work. She was also inspired by the films at the Tribeca Film Festival, Kotee said.
“I saw them as heroic revolutionaries that went away from the beaten path.”
The artists that create independent films were more accessible and approachable as well.
“Normal people like me could see the star actor and talk with them,” Kotee said. “It bridged the gap.”
After moving to Bushwick, Kotee began to work on creating a platform for the independent filmmakers to show their work in the community.
“That’s when I knew my life was going to be immersed in the independent film world,” she said.
“There was a real need for an artists platform, but not a traditional,” she said.
The diversity of the Bushwick community reflects different parts of her own life. Born in Monrovia, Liberia, Kotee relates her own cultural journey to the changes in the neighborhood. She sees film as a way to bridge the gap between newly arrived artists and members of the community that have lived in Bushwick for many years.
Kotee has reached out to Community Board 4 Chairperson Julie Dent and District Manager Nadine Whitted for advice, mentorship and some history of the area. She tapped Dent and Whitted to explore ways to encourage long-term residents to participate, as well, she said.
“Over the last two or three years I have made steps to try to offer something to everyone in the community,” Kotee said.
She has tried to “create a place where people can enjoy films together. It’s a long process of course.”
“I wasn’t aware of the history (of the neighborhood),” she said.
“First you have to be aware of how you are not speaking to different communities.”
She related that at first only the newly arrived, artistic community was being courted. Kotee now believes that to encourage diverse participation and community engagement, talking with bodega owners, showing up at beauty salons and other neighborhood institutions is important
“Are you not talking to the barbershop guy,” Kotee said.
Whitted and Dent have advised her in these efforts to get the African- American and Latino community to come to the festival.
“Filmmakeing is one of the most powerful ways to get a message out to the community,” she said. “(We) “Try to make it well balanced.
Kotee also travels to different festivals throughout the year to find films to further community participation by “looking at films the community can relate to,” like a film named Los Angéles that will be screened at the festival, which touches on cultural issues.
“It’s making people see there are things you can do to bridge the gap. The more people get aware of it, the more it will change. It has to do with both sides.”
Kotee is making a documentary film featuring interviews with Bushwick residents that touches on the history and changing face of the neighborhood.
As in nearly any community, Kotee has discovered that residents want same things as new arrivals, and don’t want to be forced out, but instead remain in the places where they have created memories or grew up.
Through her interviews for the documentary she has engaged with the community and learned that most residents welcome artists and the changes they have brought.
“A lot of them are actually excited about what is going on now,” she said. “They like what is happening.”
